Remote users using cached profile can no longer logon

[cohoonma]

Hi gang,

We have a number of remote users logging on the their machines using cached profiles. We do set the profile up while connected to our network and domain before we send the machine out to them. The users do not have connections to our domain at their site, hence the use of the cahced profiles.

As it stands, it appears that only our XP Pro clients have this issue and not Win NT4 clients.

For a while, users logon using their cached profile just fine. Then one day, they can't. They are told the domain is no longer available. Not sure, but the timing appears to be around 90 days when this error pops up.

We have scratched our heads and tried in vain to search the web, but have not found an answer. We are now starting to see a flood of calls to our helpdesk from our remote users and we just don't have a clue.

Any one have some thoughts?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[AlexIT]

If the cached credentials get too old they are no longer valid (expired)...I noticed this in Win2K and XP with VPN specific users before. You must connect the machines to the domain and refresh the cached credentials periodically.

To refresh before they stop working the users should be connected to the domain (VPN or whatever) and use CTRL-ALT-DEL to change their password. Do this more often than 90 days (42 days is new M$ default for password age.)

To fix this once its too late, physically connect the machines to the LAN and log in with a valid domain account and password, it should reload the cached credentials.

Maybe someone else found a better way to refresh this once the cache is expired, I have not.

Alex

 

[bcastner]

The cached credentials do not expire, the password expires.

If you expire the user password, forcing the user to change passwords on a regular basis, the cached credentials they are using will fail. There is a hotfix to correct this problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=829652

Note there are earlier hotfixes to handle the case where the password expires without user warning.